A Child in a Town of Hallows
by Sora-M-Jigen
Summary: She was only seven years old when the winter killed her. She was only seven years old when she had her first crush. She was only seven years old when she entered the town of Halloween. No Mary Sue.Please read and review.


**Holy Hell it's been ages since I did a Nightmare fic. I need to do more. Nonetheless, here's a Nightmare Before Christmas fic! I am nervous as Hell though cause although I am a huge fan of Nightmare (to prove this, I did a 12 page report on Tim Burton ^^) I just hope I got the characters of Lock, Shock, and Barrel right. Yes, there will be an OOC in this fic but I assure you THIS IS NOT A MARY SUE. **

**Enjoy! ^^**

**Lock, Shock, Barrel, Oogie Boogie, Jack Skellington belong to Tim Burton  
Annabelle Lii Anderson, Edgar Arthur Anderson,Virginia Marie Anderson belong to ME**

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**Chapter 1: Welcome to Your Afterlife**

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December 30, 1992 - the body of Annabelle Lii Anderson was found deceased in the snow at 9 pm. Apparently she was out playing in the snow and got lost just as soon as the blizzard hit the Town of Philips, Maine. The body was frozen to the point where the heart stopped beating and the young child's flesh was as white as the snow. Her father, Edgar Arthur Anderson was devastated by her young demise as was her mother, Virginia Marie Anderson. She was only seven years old.

* * *

At the same time of her death, Annabelle awoke before an array of jack o lanterns. Their eyes and grin glowed a mystical yet eerie yellow. Annabelle moved as far back as she could until her tiny back hit a stone border between the dark land and the pumpkins. Wincing a little at that, she looked over at the stone border and noticed the steel black fence like posts emerging from it. Grabbing the post, she helped herself to stand in an attempt to get a better idea of where she was.

Sadly, this didn't help her. Annabelle had no idea where she was but what scared her more was the fact that her skin seemed to be whiter than usual and almost glowing. She jumped a little, startled by the glow of her hand. Looking up and over, she noticed the strange shape of the hill as well as the bony white full moon over it. Enchanted by this, she climbed over the post and gradually started to climb up the Spiral Hill.

* * *

Not too far from Annabelle, a trio of kids were rampaging throughout the graveyard in a claw foot bath tub. They howled and cackled, screamed and shrieked with joy as they urged the tub to go faster. The kids were of a devil, a witch, and a skeleton - formerly known as Lock, Shock, and Barrel. Lock, being the leader of the group waved his plunger in the air like a baton and pointed out sharp turns and sudden stops for the tub to take for more fun. Shock, from time to time argued that it would be better to let the tub run its' course - the faster the better as she prodded Lock from time to time with her pitchfork. Barrel on the other hand, was on for the ride, and held onto the sides of the tub. The tub, however, took its' own course from time to time, and finally ran up the Spiral Hill in hopes to stand on its' rear legs. However, it stopped short at the sight of a solid white figure on the edge of the hill. Lock, Shock, and Barrel were sent forward a bit as they instantly grabbed the tub.

"Why did it stop," Shock asked in anger as she pushed her mask up onto her face and looked up. Barrel attempted to push off Shock, as seeing she landed on him. Angered by this, Shock whammed him upside the head with the pitchfork as the two started to fight.

Lock on the other hand, was taken aback by what he saw. Before him was a little girl with snowy white hair that came down to her hips. Her skin matched the hair color as she wore a ghostly white dress that was torn and frayed at the edges. The dress covered her arms but stopped at her wrists to reveal tiny little hands. The dress also came to her knobby little knees as the rest of her legs were hidden by huge, white winter snow boots. Her eyes were rather strange, however, one was a soft pale blue and the other was a soil toned brown. She must have been new as seeing Lock had never seen her before.

"HEY," Lock yelled not only to silence Shock and Barrel but to strike some fear into the girl before him. After all, he was a part of the finest Trick or Treaters and it almost seemed like his duty to strike terror into the hearts of those who crossed his path. Shock and Barrel looked over from their fight and stared at the new girl.

"Who are you," Lock spoke with defiance in his tone.

"I'm...um...Anna..belle...Lii," her voice was both scared of the trio in the tub before her and nervous because she had no idea where she was.

"Annabelle Lii, eh? I'm Lock."

"Shock!"

"Barrel," as they introduced themselves they revealed their faces for a split second. Annabelle smiled faintly and giggled a bit under her breath.

"You're new here?"

"What's...here," Annabelle asked as she blinked in confusion.

"This is Halloween Town! Duh! Where've you been? Alive," Shock asked with a slight attitude to her tone as Annabelle thought for a moment before nodding her head. Annabelle had never been to Halloween Town before let alone heard of it. Unbeknownst to her, she was dead. She had died out in the snow and now she stood atop the Spiral Hill of a town fill with the denizens of the dead.

Annabelle nodded. "I'm still alive now, right," she had asked out of curiosity.

Oh boy. This was the fun part. This hadn't happened often but when it did it was fun. It wasn't the easiest thing to do but it had to be done. They wouldn't do it now - wait, of course they would! Yet, sometimes they liked to fool the newly departed and tell them they were in a dream. Barrel liked this way as to where Shock and Lock preferred to tell them right up front. It was mean, yes but it was better than them finding out the hard way. Shock snickered some as Barrel watched Lock with a small grin. Sighing some, Lock looked her over. She seemed like a good kid. Kind of stupid though, having no idea where she was. He really didn't want to tell her but at the same time he had to. Otherwise, she'd find out the hard way. Shock pushed Lock out of the way and stared at the girl. For a moment, she reminded of how Shock was when she was a girl. Hell, she almost looked the same age as her. Shock shrugged the feeling off watched Lock from the corner of her eye.

"You're dead," Shock spoke up with an excited tone. Excited because it was a thrill to be dead in the town of Halloween and how Annabelle would react to this Earth shattering news.

Annabelle's eyes widened a bit as she bit her lower lip. Dead. She had only learned about death not too long ago when her Muffins died in the Real World. Muffins was her pet kitten that she had found scouring the streets one day. It followed Annabelle home after she played with it and refused to leave her side. However, fate had planned otherwise as one day the neighbor's German Shepard got loose and chased after Muffins - right into the middle of the street. The dog had stopped before the car could do anything but at the same time, the car swerved and ran Muffins over. After that, Edgar had explained to Annabelle what death was as the definition rang out in Annabelle's mind.

'Death means losing something you love dearly but knowing you'll see it someday in the Kingdom of Heaven.'

Annabelle blinked. Was Halloween Town Heaven? She didn't know. She had no idea if she would see Muffins again or not. Annabelle had no idea how she died or what happened to her body. It was a blur to her. She didn't even remember how she got to Halloween Town. Annabelle wasn't even sure if she'd ever see her parents again or not. The idea of never seeing her parents again brought tears to her eyes as Annabelle let out a little shriek of despair before bringing her hands to her eyes and crying.

"Great job stupid! You made her cry," Lock yelled at Shock.

"What? If you weren't gonna do it I was," Shock snapped back at him.

"You're no fun," Barrel spoke up and pouted.

Lock and Shock continued to fight with each other as Annabelle continued to cry. Barrel watched the girl and for a moment, he felt bad for her. He knew what it was like to be told that he had died and he hated the feeling. Reaching into their black trick or treat bag, he felt around. He needed something to cheer her up and probably shut up Lock and Shock as they now proceeded to use their weapons to hurt each other. Barrel pulled out a few scorpions as well as a battle axe, a few spears, and a bear trap. He winced as it bit into his wrist and shook it off. He was used to that but it still hurt. At last! He found what he was looking for! Barrel pulled out a lollipop with a black swirl with bits and pieces of other candy stuck to it. He pulled off a few pieces of candy corn and ate it as he left the tub and approached her.

Sensing his presence, she looked up, and stopped her crying. Barrel stopped at this as Lock and Shock stopped whacking each other. Behind the mask he was smiling faintly as he handed her the lollipop. Smiling faintly, Annabelle took the lollipop and licked it for a few moments before the smile grew a little more. Barrel returned to the tub and continued to watch her. He grinned a little. She had a sweet tooth, just like him. Then again, Lock and Shock had quite the sweet tooth as well but maybe she could join them. Barrel hoped that they would accept her into their group - from the looks of it, she had nowhere else to go and they couldn't leave her alone in the graveyard. That'd be too cynical, even for them.

Barrel stood and approached Lock. "We can't leave her out here," he whispered.

"Well what should we-"

"Oh no," Shock whispered a bit in anger. She wasn't against Annabelle but the idea of having another girl in the tree house for some reason didn't fit with her. Shock didn't know why but it just seemed to bug her a bit.

"We can't leave her here," Barrel protested again in whispers.

Lock looked over at Annabelle before sighing again.

"Fine," Lock whispered a bit in agitation. "She can stay with us but she can't meet Oogie."

"Why," Shock asked in the same tone.

"Cause he might eat her or somethin," Lock continued in a hushed tone.

Shock and Barrel nodded in agreement to this. Looking over at Annabelle Lii who was still licking the lollipop a sudden smile grew behind the masks. If Annabelle had come to live with them, they could teach her their ways. Hell, she could even be a new part of Halloween's Finest Trick or Treaters (or so Jack had called them). It was just a matter of time was all.

"Hey Annabelle," Lock called over to her with a bit of slyness in his tone that seemed to go unnoticed to Annabelle. She looked over and failed to see the slight coyness in his eyes.

"Yes?"

"Wanna come live with us," Barrel asked in his usual tone.

Delighted by this, Annabelle nodded quickly at the thought that she had made some new friends in this strange land. Rushing forward, she climbed into the tub and they took off into the night.


End file.
